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In its previous observation, the Committee has invited the Government to consider accepting the obligations of the Convention in respect of Part VI (Employment injury benefit), which contains provisions similar to Part VI of the European Code of Social Security ratified by Italy in 1977. In reply to this proposition, the Government states that the competent authorities were consulted and expressed themselves in favour. Consequently, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy will commence proceedings for ratifying Part VI of the Convention as soon as possible. The Committee notes this statement with interest and would like to be kept informed of the progress made in this respect.

The Committee further notes that, while Italy has accepted the obligations of the Convention only for Parts V, VII and VIII, the report also contains detailed statistics for the calculation of the level of the benefits with respect to other non-accepted Parts of the Convention (Parts III, IV, IX and X), which show that the replacement level prescribed by the Convention is attained. The information supplied by the Government in its 22nd annual report on the application of the European Code of Social Security confirms this conclusion. In this respect the Committee notes that the Group of Consultants for the application of Article 76 of the European Code of Social Security has pointed out in its latest report that Italy is in a position to accept Parts II, III and IV of the Code, which contain provisions similar to the corresponding Parts of the Convention. Highlighting the importance of enhanced coordination between the obligations assumed by the Contracting Parties under European and ILO social security standards, the Committee would therefore ask the Government to consider the possibility of accepting the obligations of the Convention in respect of these Parts as well.